Gettin’ Hitched, Persian Style

When Krystopf and Atlas got married, they did it in style.  Atlas is from Iran, and so their celebrations involved many Persian traditions — and lots and lots of dancing.  And food. It was truly incredible.  And we got to meet the newest member of our family, my cousin’s baby, Ari.  She’s five weeks.  And she slept through all the celebrations thanks to her baby headphones.  So.  Awesome.

Our relatively small Scottish-Canadian family was completely enveloped by Atlas’ huge Persian family as soon as we arrived, and I don’t think Krystopf could ask for a better set of in-laws.  Atlas’ sisters and parents are absolutely lovely, as well as all her aunts and uncles and cousins … Atlas’ mother, in fact, is my new hero, and she taught me how to make my own yogurt and feta cheese, so I’ll have more on that later on.

On the first night the Pie and I were there, we had the Persian wedding ceremony known as the aghd.  It was a very interesting affair, with lots of symbolic items laid out in front of the bride and groom, including the present of a mirror that they gazed into as they were wed.

The aghd spread. Ando’s foot is in the foreground.

Then there was dancing.  And food.  And more dancing.  At this point the Pie and I had been awake for longer than was really sane so we promised Atlas’ aunt that we would do our best to dance our feet off at the western wedding on Saturday.  It took three washings of my face to get off all this makeup, but that is how it is done.

My mother-in-law tells me I look like Posh Spice in this photo.  And yes, those are my real eyelashes.  The falsies we saved for Saturday.

Saturday morning we were up bright and early and drove with Atlas’ mom to the hotel where the bride and groom were getting ready for their big day.  I was a bridesmaid and the Pie was one of Krystopf’s groomsmen so we were quickly whisked off to get ready ourselves.  I know the boys spent most of the day sitting around giggling at dumb jokes, but us ladies were busy from the first moment until we left for Stanley Park, where the ceremony took place. Because I have short hair, my set-up took no time at all and I was able to take some “getting ready” shots before the professional photographers arrived.

Atlas and her mom, both be-curler-ed.

Atlas’ hair, all done.

Middle sister, fluffing up her ‘do.

Baby sister, getting her makeup done.

Sister-in-law, getting her hair done while trying to eat breakfast.

The dress.

When the pros got there I gave up my camera because then I had to be IN the photos, but the photography team was really great and easy to work with — a good thing, seeing as we spent all day with them. They even produced a short video on the day, which we got to watch DURING the reception that night. It makes my brother look like a total rock star. Atlas of course is stunning (as always), and you can even see me dancing dorkily with a knife. Check it out on Brellow Productions’ blog here.  They did a great job.

Newly wed, we headed from Stanley Park back to the hotel for the reception.  We had the use of a party bus for the occasion, complete with dancing pole.  The Pie is the same height as the pole.

But that didn’t stop him from trying it out.

Hard to take a good picture when you’re laughing hysterically while trying to stand on a bus that is careening madly through downtown Vancouver.

So then all the other boys had to have a go.

Ando works his Blue Steel magic.

The trick was not to kick the beautiful bride in the face while doing so.

Krystopf needed a little help getting up after this.

A good time was had by all, especially the newlyweds, and we’re so happy for them. Congratulations!